Employment Rights Act 2025: which provisions come into force on 18 February 2026?

From 18 February 2026, new family-related leave entitlements under the Employment Rights Act 2025 will take effect. Here’s what employers need to know about the changes: 

• Parental leave (section 15 – partial commencement): whilst parental leave will not become a day-one right until 6 April 2026, there is a partial commencement of section 15 of the Employment Rights Act 2026 on 18 February 2026. This allows employees who will become entitled to parental leave on 6 April 2026 to give notices and evidence related to taking parental leave after 6 April 2026. 

• Paternity leave (sections 15 & 17 – partial commencement): whilst paternity leave will become a day one right from 6 April 2026 for the vast majority of employees, there is a partial commencement of section 15 & 17 the Employment Rights Act 2026 on 18 February 2026, bringing the following provisions into force to the extent specified:  

  • Cases where the child’s mother / main adopter has died: where the child’s mother / main adopter has died, paternity leave becomes a day one right for employees from 18 February 2026. In these cases, section 17, which allows paternity leave to be taken after a period of shared parental leave, will also come into force on 18 February 2026. 

  • Notices and evidence: employees who will become entitled to take paternity leave on or after 6 April 2026 (i.e. those who do not currently have 26 weeks’ minimum service, but who will become entitled when the minimum service requirement is removed) will be permitted, from 18 February 2026, to give notices and evidence related to taking paternity leave after 6 April 2026.

All employers 

• Protection from detriment to deter industrial action (section 76 – commenced but regulations required): section 76 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, which comes into force on 18 February 2026, provides protection from detriments “of a prescribed description” by the employer done for the sole or main purpose of preventing or deterring the worker from taking protected industrial action or penalising them for doing so. The government needs to issue regulations to specify the prescribed detriments and, until it does so, this section does not appear to have any practical ‘bite’. It is not yet clear if the government intends to issue the associated regulations before or after 18 February 2026, although it previously promised a consultation on this early this year (we will report any developments). A burning question for employers will be whether withholding salary will be excluded from the list of prescribed detriments. 

• Protection of employees for taking industrial action (section 77): it is currently automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for participating in protected industrial action unless 12 weeks have elapsed since the action began, and the employer has also acted appropriately to try and resolve the dispute with the union. Section 77 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, which comes into force on 18 February 2026, extends this protection against dismissal so that it will be automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for participating in protected industrial action, regardless of how long the industrial action lasts. This enhanced protection will only apply to industrial action begun by the employee on or after 18 February 2026. Where the industrial action began before that date, employees will continue to be automatically protected from unfair dismissal for the protected period under the current law (broadly, the first 12 weeks of industrial action). 

• Trade union political funds (sections 62 & 86): most trade unions have political funds, which allow part of the union’s funds to be applied in the furtherance of its political objectives. Various provisions of the Employment Rights Act 2025, most of which are mainly relevant to trade unions themselves, come into force on 18 February 2026. Of wider interest to employers, are the following aspects:  

  • Contributions by members to a trade union’s political fund: trade union members must currently expressly ‘opt in’ to make contributions to their union’s political funds. From 18 February 2026 section 62 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 comes into force. This means new trade union members will instead be required to expressly ‘opt out’ of making contributions to the trade union’s political fund. This will usually occur via direct interactions between the member and the trade union. Existing trade union members who are not currently contributing to the political fund will remain opted out and do not need to take any action to retain status as an opted-put member unless they choose to ‘opt in’. 

  • Related impact on trade union ‘check-off’ arrangements: many employers operate a system of ‘check-off’, where the employer deducts trade union subscriptions from a worker’s pay and transfers those subscriptions to the trade union. Employers operating check-off need to be aware of a new provision designed to protect trade union members from pay deductions relating to political fund contributions in some circumstances. Section 86 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, which comes into force on 18 February 2026, states that where a trade union member confirms to their employer in writing that they are either not a contributor to the trade union’s political fund, or that they have given the trade union a notice opting out of political fund contributions (which has not yet taken effect), then the employer must make sure that no amount representing a contribution to the trade union’s political fund is deducted from the members pay under the check-off system. Where this protection applies, the employer must continue to deduct the remainder of the worker’s trade union subscriptions in the usual way.  

• Industrial action ballots / picketing (sections 69, 70, 71, 72, 74 & 75): from 18 February 2026, the Employment Rights Act 2025 makes various changes to the rules around industrial action ballots, including:   

  • Public sector: industrial action - removal of support threshold: currently, where industrial action will affect essential public services, in addition to the 50% ballot turnout requirement, 40% of those entitled to vote must vote in favour of industrial action. Section 69 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, which comes into force on 18 February 2026, removes the requirement for a 40% support threshold to be met in industrial action ballots in certain important public services. The 40% support threshold will not longer be required for any industrial action ballot opening (meaning the first day when voting papers are sent out) on or after 18 February 2026. The 50% turnout threshold of those eligible to vote remains in place for now. 

  • Notice of industrial action ballot: section 70 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, which comes into force on 18 February 2026, reduces the amount of information that unions must include in the notice of an industrial action ballot they must send to an employer. 

  • Information included on voting paper: section 71 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 reduces the amount of information that unions must include on an industrial action ballot voting paper for ballots opening (meaning the first day when voting papers are sent out) on or after 18 February 2026. 

  • Increased mandate for industrial action: section 72 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 increases the mandate period for industrial action, following a successful ballot, from 6 to 12 months. This increased mandate will only apply to ballots opened (meaning the first day when voting papers are sent out) on or after 18 February 2026. Existing six-month mandates, obtained under ballots which opened before 18 February 2026, will not be automatically extended to 12 months.  

  • Notice period for industrial action: section 74 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, which comes into force on 18 February 2026, reduces the notice period a trade union must give to an employer of industrial action from 14 days to 10 days. The existing 14-day notice period will continue to apply to any industrial action in relation to which the employer receives a notice before 18 February 2026. 

  • Picketing: section 75 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 removes the requirement for unions to appoint a picketing supervisor for any picketing occurring on or after 18 February 2026. 

• Public sector: deduction of trade union subscriptions from wages (section 63): most public sector employers are currently only permitted to provide a ‘check-off’ service (where the employer deducts trade union subscriptions from a worker’s pay and transfers those subscriptions to the trade union) if their workers have been given the option to pay their union subscriptions by other means, and the trade union pays the employer for its administration of the ‘check-off’ system. Section 63 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 repeals the restrictions on check-off in the public sector from 18 February 2026. Public sector employers that do not currently operate ‘check-off’ may face requests from recognised trade unions to do so. Trade unions will not have to offer an alternative payment method to members and it will no longer be mandatory for them to reimburse employers for administering ‘check‑off’ systems.   

• Public sector: reporting of facility time (section 66): facility time is the provision of paid or unpaid time off from an employee's normal role to undertake trade union duties and activities as a trade union representative. Many public sector bodies are currently required to produce annual reports providing specified information about the amount of trade union facility time taken. Section 66 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 repeals trade union facility time publication requirements for relevant public sector employers from 18 February 2026. Relevant public sector employers remain required to publish facility time information in relation to any relevant period which ends before 18 February 2026, but do not need to do so for relevant periods ending after this date.